THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER’S WAR
Dir: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan (12A, 121 mins)
Snow White and The Huntsman hardly felt like it needed a sequel, so this prequel/follow up is somewhat of a surprise. Kristen Stewart’s Snow White is nowhere to be seen, but Chris Hemsworth’s curiously accented Huntsman is, along with some serious female star wattage. Charlize Theron returns as evil queen Ravenna and Emily Blunt is the wicked queen’s sister Freya, who can turn all to ice and snow in a Frozen kind of way. Blunt’s heart has hardened, she has forbidden love in her army, which includes Hemsworth and Chastain who, after some fighty foreplay, flout that rule. When the chance comes for Freya to retrieve the magic mirror and resurrect her sister, things get worse, but there are still comedy dwarves played by Nick Frost, Sheridan Smith and Rob Brydon. Big on spectacle, this has a chance of being decent with the cast involved rather than the proverbial poisoned apple.